Embellishing the Liturgy

I found this reading to be very interesting.  The majority of the reading was a letter written by a monk Nokter of St. Gall to a bishop where he presented his compositions.  His whole tone in the letter was very humble and self deprecating, and even apologetic.  I wonder if this is the typical manner that someone of that time period would use to interact with a person in a higher church office.  If this man were to consult me about this letter today as he submitted his compositions to a higher authority, I would tell him to stop putting himself down and stop trying to underplay his work.  While it is not good to sound to overly confident or arrogant, this type of extreme humility would probably not go over very well today, but it was a different time and a different culture and this may have been the type of humility and reverence that was expected.

I liked that he described his composition process and even framed it in a way that was apologetic and humble.  He told how he had trouble remembering the melodies without words at the end of the Alleluia so he put words to them and made them into a hymn.  In his words the melodies "escaped from my poor little head".

He also described that when it was suggested that he present his compositions, he first "shrank back in shame" and felt "unequal to the task" and had to work up the courage, and when he did it was "still with great pain and difficulty".  He also referred to his work as a "worthless little book".  I found all of this to be extreme and over the top, but I am very aware that I am reading it in with my 21st century views and I understand that at the time the letter was written, it may have been very appropriate, even expected.

I am also curious as to just how controversial this idea of embellishing the liturgy was at the time and I wonder if this also played a role in how apologetic and self deprecating his letter was.  It is hard for me to understand why this would be controversial because of the culture that I have been raised in, but I know that the liturgy of the church was considered to be sacred and holy, and embellishing the liturgy may have been viewed as sacrilege.  Rituals and traditions have always been extremely important to humans, probably even more so in the past because there were not easy ways to preserve their history and purity. Changing these rituals, even if it is adding something new will always be met with opposition, especially if the traditions are considered to be sacred. .